4 Reasons Why you Need to Administer Reading Surveys

When I first became a reading specialist, I struggled with finding ways to motivate my 4th and 5th graders to read. They had little interest in reading the articles from the research-based intervention program we were using. So I asked my principal for permission to try a different approach with these students to give them more choices with their reading. But in order to plan for this type of instruction, I needed to find out more about my students. As a result, I began using reading interest and attitude surveys.

Since I work with students in grades K-5, I modify the surveys I use based on the grade levels. A simple survey such as the one below allows my primary students to draw the things they are interested in, such as their favorite books, topics of interest, hobbies, and other fun facts they want me to know. 

The intermediate survey for the upper grades asks students to let me know which genres and types of texts they enjoy reading.

I use recording sheets to keep track of the results. It helps me notice trends with students, such as a majority of them prefer reading graphic novels, which helps me to plan my instruction. 

Attitude surveys are very eye-opening as they give you insight into how your students feel about reading but more importantly how they view themselves as readers.

The students are always very excited to complete the surveys, and it naturally leads to great discussions. They can't wait to tell me all about their favorite book or all of the facts they know about dinosaurs! 

Here are 4 reasons why you need to administer reading surveys:

1) Build Relationships with Your Students

By administering reading interest and attitude surveys you are gaining valuable information not only about your students as readers but as individuals also. It helps you know their likes/dislikes, hobbies, and perceived strengths/areas of growth. I've been able to have animated conversations with students after finding out we both share a love of the Dallas Cowboys! I strongly believe that building relationships with your students is the most important thing you can do to help them be successful.

2) Engage and Motivate Your Students

One benefit of taking the time to get to know your students better is they feel like you care about them as individuals, which goes a long way in helping to engage and motivate them to read throughout the school year. They are also more engaged because they feel they have some input and choice into their own education. Aren't we as adults more motivated to read something that interests us versus something we are told we have to read? Let's show that consideration for our students by providing opportunities to read what interests them.

3) Plan Your Instruction

Administering reading interest surveys can actually make it easier to plan your instruction. It helps to provide you with a purpose for your reading instruction. If I notice a vast majority of students are interested in reading about sports, I can focus on finding a variety of texts about sports. If several students report that they struggle with understanding unknown words in texts, I can plan mini-lessons on vocabulary strategies. It can also help when planning a book tasting to introduce students to new types of texts or genres.

4) Monitor Their Progress

Students' reading progress should not just be measured by their reading levels or scores on tests. We can monitor their progress in more meaningful ways. Administering the reading interest and attitude surveys multiples times a year can provide you with great insight into students' reading progress. Ideally, through your instruction, they are gaining confidence in themselves as readers and expanding their horizons by reading different genres they had not previously enjoyed. Giving the surveys throughout the year allows you to see if their attitudes and interests are changing as a result of your instruction.

After seeing the positive impact the reading interest and attitude surveys had on my students and their reading progress, I now make sure I find time to administer them multiple times each year. 

Here are the Reading Interest and Attitude Surveys I administer with my students. (There are more surveys and recording documents that I use which are included in this set but were not shown in this post.)

Click to find out more!

As previously mentioned I also find tremendous value in administering monthly reading interest and attitude surveys. It allows me to see any changes in students' reading attitudes and interests based on strategies I've implemented. I also use the information to plan instructional activities such as book tastings and personalized book recommendations. (Check out my blog post for more information about how I suggest books based on students' interests.)

Click to learn more about the monthly surveys I use!

Are you already administering reading interest and attitude inventories with your students? Have you found them to be beneficial? Share your experiences in the comments below!

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